The next day was going to be hectic as we had a day-long plan for visiting Nandgaon-Barsana-Govardhan. We planned to start with Nandgaon, then to Barsana and while returning we would visit Govardhan. Like first day, my wife was again ready by 6 AM. The car was scheduled to arrive by 7 AM and as before it was on time with our guide, Prabhuji already onboarded.
Soon we were on National Highway traveling towards Delhi. After travelling 35 KM on this road, we took a left turn. This was a local road and condition of road was not very good. We had to cross a railway crossing and had to wait for a long time.
Our first stop was Nandgaon. It is believed that to avoid frequent attacks by demons at Gokul, Nandarai ji moved to a village far from Mathura with family and with all his subjects from Gokul. Shri Krishna was then merely 2 years old. Nandarai ji settled on a hill and the house created is known as Nand Bhawan.
Our car was parked midway on the hills. We had to go up to Nand Bhawan. There was a small temple inside. We went to the roof and experienced the panoramic view of the entire Nandgaon and adjoining villages.
From Nand Bhawan, we went to a place which was so peaceful and borne so much natural beauty that I would be grateful to the Prabhuji forever, for showing us such a wonderful place.
While returning from Nand Bhawan, after traveling for around 2 KM, we left the paved road and took a country road through agricultural fields. After going for about 400 meters, we could hear scream of peacocks from all around. Soon we spotted number of peacocks roaming around the bushes and searching for food. I took out my camera to take picture but our guide told me that you will get ample opportunity to take good picture as we stop. Soon we entered through the gate of a small ashram and the car was parked.
As we offboarded the car, we were greeted by 3-4 peacocks dancing with their tail plumage spread out in half circle. I had never imagined that I would be seeing peacock with plumage spread out in my life. I took number of snaps and videos there. Within the ashram there is small idol of Lord Krishna. We were told that this is the place where Lord used to come with his elder brother Balaram and cowherd friends to feed cows.
The ashram was set up by Srila Rup Goswami who used to sing bhajan below a Kadamba tree. The place is known as Ter Kadamba and it is believed that at this place, Lord used to play melodious tune on his flute to call his cows end of the day.
There is another popular belief that Srimati Radharani took the form of a little girl and came to feed Srila Rupa Goswami, who was engrossed in writing and hardly had any food for days.
The peace of the place can hardly be described in words, and it is something which you have to experience visiting the village. The place is bit secluded and relatively less crowded and surrounded with some not so dense forest.
From Ter Kadamba, we went to Vrinda devi temple. Vrinda means Tulsi and this temple has an idol of a Goddess Vrinda, who is believed to be closely associated with the childhood of Lord Shri Krishna. Tulsi is also a plant with medicinal value which grows in abundance here which is also worshipped by Hindus.
There is a small temple with few cottages in middle of an agricultural field.
As, the stories of Lord Shri Krishna are incomplete without Srimati Radharani, similarly our tour would be incomplete without visiting Barsana, the eternal residence of Srimati Radharani. The Radharani temple is on top of Bhanugarh hill. The place is very famous for a week long Holi celebration and Radhastami. Krishna disciple from all over world visit Vrindavan and many make to Barsana during Holi.
The architecture of this temple particularly the arches and pillars are very beautiful and are made of red sandstone. The temple is also known as Laadli lal mandir or Radha Rani temple or Shreeji temple.
The panoramic view of the entire Barsana from the temple compels any person to take memory card full of photos.
On our way back, we passed through Govardhan, a key pilgrimage center. We are already aware of the mythological story of Lord lifting the Govardhan hill to protect the people of Nandgaon from the devastating rain and flood, caused by the fury of King of God, Indra.
This place is famous for parikrama and people walk around the entire hill for KMs in bare foot. We stopped near a temple, bowed before Lord Govardhan and started our journey back to hotel.
It was a long day, and as we had our ticket from New Delhi on the next day, so we spent most of the evening in hotel packing luggage. That night, we slept a little early as we wanted to spend some time the next morning at the ISKCON temple before leaving the holy town.
The next morning, being the last morning of this tour, we were very sad. But every good thing has to finish. So, we decided to use the available time to the fullest extent. We went to ISKCON temple, spent few hours there, had some snacks from the stalls opposite to the gate. By this time, it was 10:30 AM. We went to hotel, took shower and checked out. The car was already booked to drop us to the New Delhi Railway station.
We left hotel at around 12 PM from Vrindavan and taking Yamuna expressway, cruising at a speed above 100 KM, we reached New Delhi railway station by 4 PM. We had our ticket in New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express to reach Kolkata the next morning around 10 AM. This journey left a long lasting memory and forced me to go back to Vrindavan again and again.
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Excellent
Hare krishna